


we live forwards, but sometimes...

by norainydays



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: F/M, Laurel Lance (mentioned) - Freeform, Laurel Lance/Tommy Merlyn (mentioned) - Freeform, Lisa Snart (mentioned) - Freeform, Modern AU, Past Nyssa al Ghul/Sara Lance, Soulmate AU, Tommy Merlyn (mentioned) - Freeform, because i don't aldskfja;sdlkfj, can you tell i don't like writing traditional soulmate aus?, i'm a mess omg, idk man i had this weird idea in my head
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-19
Updated: 2018-12-19
Packaged: 2019-09-22 14:35:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17061596
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/norainydays/pseuds/norainydays
Summary: Sara & Snart have known they were soulmates since high school. But they were never like that, y'know? It was an unspoken promise that they could be with whoever they wanted because they knew they would never be together in that way.So both of them went off to college, and, days before Sara graduated, Nyssa broke up with her. Over the fact that Sara had a soulmate and knew who it was. At least, that's what Sara tries to convince herself it is. Is trying to convince herself it is. She could find it at the bottom of this bottle, right?But, god if her luck isn't the best, because turns out, Leonard goddamn Snart owns the bar.





	we live forwards, but sometimes...

**Author's Note:**

> This is for @siraymondofthepalms on tumblr for the DCTV Secret Santa! Hope you like it!!!!

Sara downed yet another drink in an attempt to speed up the process of getting drunk. God, that stupid goddamn sorority had really brought up her alcohol tolerance, and, for once, she was both thankful and really,  _ really  _ annoyed.

And it wasn’t like she was looking for a fight, specifically. But there was that familiar itch that threatened to take over her body, so when some stupid guy called her a slut because she refused to talk to him, a smile sprung up on her lips.

Plastering her practiced smile on her face, she turned, her voice dripping sugar as she said, “I really am so sorry. Did you have something to say to me?”

He was taken aback and stammered for words until Sara finally couldn’t take it and went to pour her drink on him and maybe slap him once or twice.

“Sara Lance. Funny seeing you here. At my bar. About to make me lose a customer,” a familiar voice, easy and slow, said.

Her jaw tightened and the guy scampered away as she turned to face her infinitely idiotic soulmate.

“Leonard Snart. I thought you’d be in a jail cell by now,” she deadpanned.

He smirked and replied, “Well, Canary, gave up my life of crime when I realized I could have just as much fun running a bar.”

Her old nickname set heat dancing upon her face, and, even if it had been a few years since the words had rolled off her tongue, she retorted, “Careful there, Frosty. You might melt if you get too close to me.”

His smirk softened into a smile, his eyes on her as he declared last call.

She got up to leave after the last few people had streamed out into the street to go call an Uber when he called, “You staying, Lance? Some company’d be nice as I close up.”

Sara’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion even as she nodded, sliding back into her seat to watch him grab glasses off the floor and reset the pool table, arrange the drinks, whatever the hell else he was doing.

It was all at once that everything hit her. This was her soulmate. In front of her. The person she was expected to spend her life with. The person who ruined her relationship with the woman she had really wanted to spend her life with.

Sara had never been one for emotions, but going off to college and joining a sorority full of people who constantly wore masks had been hard. She was so used to the way her sister acted that it never crossed her mind that some people would use her emotions against her. Like they were some kind of weakness, a bargaining chip.

But Nyssa. Nyssa, despite being a legacy and all hard edges, had truly been Sara’s safe haven. The one who she could always count on when she needed someone to vent her frustrations to. Maybe she’d been naive to think that she could have a normal relationship with someone when she knew Snart was out there. It wasn’t like people always found their soulmates, some, like her sister and Tommy, just found each other out of sheer luck.

But she  _ had _ a soulmate. And he was nothing but bad luck.

Nyssa’s voice echoed in her mind. She used to call Sara her ‘assassin’. To be honest, it never set off her emotions the way ‘Canary’ did. Not the same fondness or nostalgia.

Stupid, stupid emotions.

She gritted her teeth at the memory of her leaving for college. How, even if she objectively knew that they had already said goodbye, Snart didn’t show up to say goodbye when she was going.

Swallowing, Sara asked, her words only slurring a bit, “Whe-when are you gonna...put up your Christmas tree?”

He smirked at her, grabbing that  _ stupid _ coat she absolutely hated him wearing…

_ I’d much prefer to be the one wearing it, _ her mind purred, and she hissed a little at the suggestion of warmth wrapping around her body, of the smell of mint and whiskey surrounding her.  _ There are better ways for that to happen… _ and she startled, suddenly realizing exactly how much she had drunk.

Just on the brink of being completely out of control, but thinking things she would never have thought sober. The  _ worst _ kind of drunk, in her opinion. Because there was no way she was acting on her thoughts.

“Well, Canary, I was thinking tonight. But then you showed up at my bar, got drunk, and, as your soulmate, I think I have at least some responsibility to drive you home...Ms. Lance.” Snart bowed mockingly, standing back up slowly and taking her hand to steady her when she wobbled. Genuine concern filled his voice as he said, “You good?”

“Yeah. Fine.”

He shook his head and wrapped an arm around her waist, throwing his jacket around her leading her to the old, banged up car.

“I can’t believe you still have Britney,” Sara said.

He closed his eyes, suppressing a laugh. “Yeah. I don’t call my car that. Only you do.”

Sara clumsily patted the roof of the car, kissing it as well. “I missed you, Britney.”

He drew out his words, settling back into the slow drawl reminiscent of a southern summer day. “Okay, Sara. Let’s get you home.”

He helped her into the car, reaching across her to buckle her in. His shirt shifted to reveal some of his back, showcasing the soulmate mark he apparently found no need to hide, despite the icy blue stretching across the canary shape. She felt her own mark tingle, the white snowflake seeming to come to life at the sight of the canary.

She rubbed her back to make the familiar yet unfamiliar feeling go away.

Her jaw once again tightened as the cold filling the air hit her face in a gust when the driver’s side door opened.

Snart sat down on the seat, adjusting a little bit as he shivered. This was the first time she had seen him do so.

“You shouldn’t have given me your jacket. It’s freezing,” Sara snapped, her words surprisingly crisp.

He lifted an eyebrow slightly. “Don’t worry about me, Canary. I mean, it is easy for you.” The last few words were muttered and made Sara’s heart ache as her own eyebrows furrowed and she burrowed further into his jacket, staring straight ahead.

She didn’t notice the way his knuckles whitened, the way his fingers tapped out a rhythm along with the faint music that was always playing because Britney’s radio couldn’t be turned off, the way a serenity floated onto his face like a mask. No. The serenity removed the mask. It didn’t put one on him.

She let her eyes slip closed, sleep and sorrow too much for her definitely not sober mind. Sara vaguely registered Snart asking for directions to her apartment, but she still didn’t stir, for the sleep overwhelming her suddenly aching body was far too much to overcome.

Sara felt his arms wrap around her, his muscles tightening with the effort of lifting her. Yet he didn’t make a single sound, no other indication that she was heavy and it was hard for him to lift her. She didn’t, however, realize that where they were going was his apartment.

Somehow, only him putting her down on his bed made her eyes fly open. If there was one thing she knew, it was the way her bed shifted under the weight of her. And this was  _ not _ her bed. Her fight or flight instincts kicked in, her body automatically getting up and creeping to the door to peek out the slightly ajar door.

Suddenly, she was regretting her choice in clothing, her choice in drink, her choice in  _ bars _ . Hell, her choice in soulmates, even if it wasn’t truly her choice in the first place. Cursing the sight of a shirtless Leonard, she reminded this wasn’t an unfamiliar sight. They weren’t  _ un _ cozy in high school. They’d had plenty of encounters where one or both of them wasn’t fully dressed. But...but Leonard had filled out, his abs more defined and his body, still lean, more muscular overall.

Sara tripped over her own dress, knocking the door open and causing Snart’s head to whip around, surprise and shock evident on his face.

“Holy...you okay, Sara? Do you need anything?” There was clear confusion on Sara’s face, she was sure, and Leanard rushed to explain. “You seemed so tired and I tried to ask you for directions, but you didn’t wake up. I can take you home now, if you want? It started snowing, though, so I’m not sure how quickly I’ll get you there.”

“No, no, it’s fine. I was just startled. You learn quickly what your bed feels like when you’ve ended up in strangers’ beds as many times I have,” Sara attempted to joke, weakly.

She noticed him tensing. Sara was confused. He knew where she had gone to college. He knew college guys had a certain knack for picking up drunk girls and taking them where they weren’t supposed to be.

“Yeah, Canary. You should go back to bed. I have some paperwork to fill out.”

“...I’m not tired,” Sara explained. Well, ‘explained’.

“Sara. You’re tired. Go to bed.”

“Okay, to be truthful, this dress isn’t exactly comfortable to sleep in,” she shot back, hoping she could stay up and talk to him. She, for some reason, needed to know what she had missed out on his life. At three am, nonetheless.

He simply sighed and brushed past her, his fingers dancing where he knew her soulmate mark was for a brief second. The contact was all too short-lived because he reached his closet and pulled out a shirt, throwing it her way and pointing to the bathroom. “Change and go to bed.”

Sara grumbled, even as she went to the bathroom, “Why are you so hellbent on me going to sleep? Do you run a stupid secret crime syndicate or something?”

She heard him chuckle as she closed the door and unzipped her dress, letting it fall around her ankles, and pulled on his shirt.

Did  _ everything _ smell like cinnamon or whiskey? This particular smell had faint traces of cinnamon and roses, the latter of which didn’t cause any part of her heart to wonder, selfishly, if he had moved on from her.

Cursing herself out in her head, she reminded herself that she had considered marrying someone else. Seriously considered it. Contemplated adopting kids and growing old with someone else. She had no right to feel jealous at all. Not to mention her and Snart really only ever shared a bed and a few stolen kisses. Their relationship was nothing significant about their relationship, if you could’ve even called it that. Which you definitely couldn’t.

She washed her face, unable to wash away most of her eye makeup because it was waterproof. She had planned ahead for far more drunken tears than she had actually shed. So far, Sara’s tally was at none.

Then again, Sara wasn’t a sad drunk. The complete opposite, to say the least.

Instead of going to bed as Snart had commanded, she plopped down on the couch next to him.

Leonard barely spared a glance for her, content to sit in silence with her for a few moments before words came spilling out of his mouth. “You were never good at following orders, Canary.”   
She retorted, “That’s because I’m the captain of this ship and you know it.”

A smile tugged at his lips and he finally looked at her. “So should I call you Captain Canary, then?”

“You could, but then that’s also what Laurel and Lisa would call us whenever they would tease me. How is Lisa, by the way?”

“In jail. She did a stupid thing, got three years in prison. She’ll be out in a few months. That’s why I quit. Couldn’t risk getting thrown in as well. Her not having a support system to fall back onto when she got out.”

Sara instinctively reached out, resting a hand on his tense muscles. “I’m sorry, Leo. She was a good kid. Lisa doesn’t deserve to be in jail.”

He shrugged off her hand, and it fell onto the small of his back. Both of their eyes widened at the contact, sending shivers up Snart’s spine and up Sara’s arm. She quickly brought it away.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be. How’s Laurel?”

“Oh. She just got promoted to District Attorney...after filing a lawsuit against Diaz, the old DA, for sexual harassment. She had like, over 200 defendants. It was crazy. I’m surprised you didn’t hear about it. Oh, and her and Tommy got married. They’re trying for kids.”

There was a twinkle in his eyes and he pushed aside his paperwork, turning his full attention to Sara.

“What about you?”

“Me? Well...I went to college, joined a sorority. Ollie and I had a thing for like half a second.” Sara could’ve sworn there was a twinge of jealousy on Leonard’s face. “And then...well, there was a girl. Nyssa. Her father ran this business. It was actually a front for an  _ actual _ crime syndicate. He called the members assassins. Laurel was the one who brought charges against him. Apparently, the fact that his daughter was dating the sister of the woman who was bringing him down didn’t sit too well with him, so he tried to bring Oliver into it. When that didn’t work, he had Nyssa break up with me. Anything to hurt Laurel, I guess.”

Shock filled Snart’s face. “Well...that’s quite the tale you just sang, Canary. But let’s be real, no viper like Nia-”

“-Nyssa.”

“-deserves you. Is that all, though?”

Sara sighed, biting her lip as she continued, “She, um, she used the soulmate thing as an excuse. Honestly, I was kind of drinking to forget about the crime part. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I have a bad habit of putting a lot of responsibility on my shoulders. Some that doesn’t belong there.”

“Most. Most doesn’t belong on your shoulders, Sara.” Heat flashed dangerously in his eyes, a stark contrast to the way the rest of his body was, and Sara leaned in a bit.

She heard his breath hitch and could feel the heat of the ghost of his lips capturing hers, and, in a moment, she felt his lips truly on hers, melting the cold of hers until they were performing. He melted her, and she cooled him off. The complete opposite of what they had been like in high school. 

She couldn’t think straight, the moment his arms slid around her waist to pull her closer pivotal. At first, her soulmate mark reacted, but when his hands slid  _ under _ the shirt, it cooled off.

After a few more moments of mindless making out, they pulled away at the same time.

“I still love you, Sara,” Snart muttered, and she wasn’t even sure he knew what he was saying, because his eyes were closed and he was taking deep breaths.

“Still?”

At her voice, his eyes snapped open. “Yeah. Still.”

She meant to say ‘oh’, but instead she was kissing him again, muttering clumsily into the kiss, “I love you, too. I don’t- I just-”

“I know, Sara. I know.”


End file.
